Sun & Surf club in Atlantic Beach celebrates unofficial end of summer just weeks after tornado struck

Two and a half weeks ago, a tornado tore roofs off of cabanas and sent chairs and tables flying at the Sun & Surf Beach Club in Atlantic Beach.

On Monday, club member Caitlin Sheridan sat with her parents, kids and other family members, a newly installed wooden roof on the family cabana above her, and a banner celebrating her parents’ 40th wedding anniversary behind her. The sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s meant for a picture-perfect holiday despite the aftermath of the Aug. 20 storm.

“It’s gorgeous and people are so happy to be here," said Sheridan, 37, of Floral Park. “Everyone here is having a great time enjoying the last minutes of summer."

Down the beach at Sunny Atlantic Beach Club, members did cannonballs and back flips into a swimming pool to raise money in the name of club member Allison Rahmani, the 40-year-old Hewlett Park Bay woman and teacher who died on Aug. 21 after she lost control of her SUV.

At Sun & Surf, there was a mix of sadness at the tornado’s destruction and gratitude that no one was hurt, and that the club already is rebuilding, said Steve Nothel, 62, of Garden City. He sat outside the cabana where he and his wife, Erin Nothel, 62, were sitting on Aug. 20, hours before a tornado ripped a hole into the cabana’s roof.

On the wooden walkway a few feet from the Nothels’ cabana, newly installed, unpainted wood sat next to the parts of the gray path that survived the storm.

The club has been closed on weekdays to allow for restoration work, said club president Bill Baumert. Parts of the club with the most serious damage are still cordoned off. About 50 of 315 cabanas were damaged.

“What’s so unbelievable is when I saw the damage and the huge pieces of roofing that had been thrown around and nobody was hurt — it’s just miraculous," he said.

Greg Greco, 76, pointed to where a new roof had been installed in his cabana to replace the one that had blown off. Ten feet away, the cabana of daughter Lauren Carrozzo was untouched. Even her cabana’s awning was not damaged.

“It’s unbelievable," Carrozzo, 46, of Rockville Centre, said as she sat on a cushioned couch outside her cabana with an arm of daughter Seton, 11, around her neck.

At Sunny Atlantic, members inserted a dollar each into a can to do cannonballs or somersaults off a diving board to the cheers of hundreds of onlookers to raise money for a foundation formed in Rahmani’s name.

The Cannonball Fun Jump is a 45-year-old annual tradition at Sunny Atlantic to raise money for charities, manager Ali Rosenblum said. This year, the money will go to the foundation set up by Rahmani's family in her name.

The police investigation into the SUV crash is ongoing, a Nassau County Police Department spokesman said Monday.

Rahmani was math coordinator of Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway.

“She was very good at helping children reach their potential," said Hila Mayer, 37, of Woodmere, outside a cabana at Sunny Atlantic on Monday. “Everyone wanted to ask her for advice. She was a passionate person, enthusiastic and very real."